Fear not
Fear not
The letter suggesting tourists will be scared away from Pahoa by a roundabout completely misses the mark. What will drive tourists away is sitting in a traffic jam for an hour or so, waiting to get to Pahoa.
Roundabouts are familiar to drivers from other parts of the world. They are used elsewhere because they’re efficient at moving traffic smoothly and easily. That’s also why the state decided to use them on this island.
If you want to see a roundabout in action, go to Kapaa on Kauai. Just west of town is a roundabout that has been in use for several years. What was a frustrating mess of an intersection, with waits of up to half an hour to get through, has become a smoothly running, quick, easy and safe passage.
Just relax, folks. It’s going to be fine.
Dan Lindsay
Hilo
A ‘zombie project’
An interesting article by Bill McKibben, a professor of environmental studies at Middlebury College in Vermont, was published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Page A14, Jan. 27.
The author discusses the current struggle between the old-fashioned entrenched fossil fuel interests, who keep churning out what he calls zombie projects, and the modern view, informed by the new understanding of the impacts of global warming, which mandates not only clean energy production but also serious reductions in greenhouse gases.
In Hawaii, energy policymakers have put forth a mandate for 100 percent clean, renewable energy production, but evidently have not grasped the need for decreased greenhouse gas emissions. So, they made a serious mistake by including biomass incineration in the proposed portfolio of “clean” and “renewable” energy sources available in the state.
Thus it has come to pass that Hawaii Island has its very own zombie project: It is called Hu Honua and proposes to incinerate the eucalyptus resources on the island.
This process is certainly not clean and might not be altogether renewable. It would liberate into the atmosphere all the carbon dioxide fixed by the trees by photosynthesis throughout many years.
After more than 10 years of intermittent construction under many owners — many millions frittered away, contractors not paid and many lawsuits generated — this plant is still not in existence. Yet, our policymakers still tout it as the top new project for the future!
Drive a stake into this zombie, once and for all.
Adrienne S. Dey
Hilo